Lightening Strikes
by ForevermoreNevermore
Summary: Curiosity killed the cat, as they say. Well... maybe not the cat, more like the the half-bird mutant. *Sigh* so is the story of my life. Guess that's all well and good, but I'm not the one who's dying. Filled with Fax, or Mang, whichever you like!
1. Oops, That's Electric

_Okay, I've like TOTALLY fallen in love with Maximum Ride. It's one of the best books I've ever read! _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. I do not own Twilight. They both beling to their respected authors and owners._

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The wind was mean and feral; kind of like Ari on a bad day.

Or a normal day, I'm not one to judge.

One second it flew at our backs, making our job easier as half bird mutants. Then the next it would turn around and blow us like wimpy leaves in the wind. Wow, I'm turning into a poet. It had been that way for _hours_ and it made my usually quickly depleting sugar reserves practically run out my wings and pull suicide dives to the ground. Just as my stomach was just beginning to eat itself, Nudge (who else, Fang?) opened their mouth.

"I'm hungry." There's a shocker. "I think we should stop here, I mean it's really pretty down there. With all those cedar trees and stuff. I never knew Washington could be so pretty! I figured it was all buildings and rain and," I drowned her out and shared a muted glance with Fang. Preparations were made to dive down when a sight caught my raptor eye's way off in the distant. It reached up above the cedar tree line and waved at us with good-natured Washington cheer.

"Must be one big elephant," Fang muttered, eyeing the huge, huge, huge fence before us.

"I didn't know they had elephants in Washington," the Gasman muttered to Iggy. I turned just in time to see him scowl.

"I didn't either." As much as my stomach was yelling at me through a mouthful of itself, I really wanted to know what was up with that macho-fence. I put on a burst of speed only to hear Mr. Downer behind me.

"What if it's a trap?" Who needs Washington when we have the Fangster to rain on our parade?

"Why would there be a trap all the way up here?" then I considered a map and realized that this state wasn't too far from California. Fang must've realized that way _before_ me, and showed it with one of his looks.

Still heading for the fence, I glanced down at the passing ground. A gorgeous lake looked back up at me, literally. It showed us like bolting arrows. A loud call sounded from the side of the water, making my heart fly up into my throat.

Boys were hopping off of a cliff into the water that looked like a long ways drop. Geez, were they breeding masochists up here? I shook my head once the lake disappeared and glanced up, only to have my destination literally stuffed in my face.

I backpedaled madly, straining my wings until I finally floated a good distance from the fence.

"Can we rest here?" Angel asked, still staring at the fence.

"Yu-hu," I answered. Look at me, I'm articulate. On the ground, the fence looked even more… big. _What could be in there? Or in here…_ I thought back to the boys jumping off the cliff. They wouldn't need a fence this big for hormones, would they?

"You know what sounds good right now?" Angel said, dreamily staring at the line of trees behind us. "Strawberries."

"Yeah, they do." Nudge agreed, shaking her head. "I haven't had strawberries, or strawberry shortcake, or strawberry jam, or strawberry preserves," I shot her a look. "… In a long time. Do you think we could go look for some?" Skeptically, I stared around at the trees, it was dark and creepy and I didn't want my baby, or anyone else, in there. "Please? We'll take Iggy and Gazzy with us!" That's right, take the blind pyro on a trip through the trees. Genius.

"Well…"

"Thanks!" and that motormouth grabbed Iggy's arm and disappeared with Angel in the lead and Gazzy in tow.

"Hey!" was Iggy's parting words as he disappeared. Great, now I was alone. I turned back to the fence and nearly jumped out of my skin at Fang's back.

"Geez!" I shouted, making birds flutter off. He turned to look at me with his dark eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"You're so quite I forgot you were there!" I huffed, trying to retain my leaderly ego that'd been scattered to the four winds. His wings, now half extended, fluttered slightly.

"That's an ego booster," he said before turning to look at the fence.

"What's with you're fascination with that fence?" I'd looked at it all right, and there was nothing fascinating about it (besides the fact that it looked like tarnished and sticky silver). He shrugged in response, and I tucked in my wings. "You should take a picture, it lasts longer."

"Ha-ha," he remarked dryly, still not looking away from that freaking fence. "Actually, I'm fairly sure that the fence would last…"

"I know I know!" I shouted, cutting him off before he could finish his sarcastic response. He turned away from the fence and stuck out a hand, more than likely intent on the cool, lean-on-a-fence look. (You know, lean a hand on the fence, cross your legs? That kind of stuff.) His hand grasped the fence.

Like a shot, his wings snapped out, one ramming (probably painfully) into the fence with a crack. It almost looked like a shudder ran through his entire body, even his hair and feathers. Widening, his eyes took on disk-like proportions while his feathers separated like they were going to shoot out of his wings like a rocket launcher. Even his shaggy hair seemed to defy gravity.

All that happened in a matter of seconds, then a shudder ran through his body. His whole body jerked back like a convulsion but his wing and hand stuck to the fence. He looked like he wanted to say something, since he opened his mouth yet nothing came out. He continued to shudder like a naked polar bear. Honestly, he looked like a head case.

"Fang?" I asked, stepping forward a bit. He matched my advances and backed up, though his wing and hand stayed on the fence. "Fang! What's wrong?" My leader-senses were tingling (like Spider Man, only without the spandex), yet he said nothing and just jerked his hand.

Then, he snapped his eyes closed and wavered (still vibrating) on his feet. Every now and then a flash of pain would cross his face, but then he would school it back. He was too stubborn to say anything. Probably why it surprised me like a birthday cake on Easter when he finally opened his mouth.

"Stuck," it came out in a strangled groan and he continued to tug and tug. Finally, instead of standing around like an idiot, I stepped forward and reached for his other arm. In response he tugged away from me, but I still got a look at his sporadic wings. Small courses of electricity jumped in-between his feathers and I found my hair gently floating in the direction of him, like he was a magnet.

No like, he _was_ a magnet.

"It's electric!" I half-asked, half-hissed at him. The smell of burning flesh soon drifted softly passed me and I nearly retched. I tried not to imagine what his hand and wing looked like, and instead glared up at the fence. An electric generator looking thingy stood on top of one of the thick corners and in a flash I was floating beside it. It was easily dispatched with a kick (though it did send a quick jolt through me). The thing groaned before the air seemed to lighten from the absence of the electricity. Just as quickly as I was gone, I was back. Kind of like those annoying cousins you can never get rid of, huh?

Fang stood for a moment then collapsed awkwardly, his arm and wing angled strangely from his position on the ground. I rushed over to help the guy up, but before I could touch him a random lightening bolt jolted from his bare hand to mine.

"Holy crap!" I yelped, jumping back from his electrified form. He grunted and closed his eyes in determination. Squaring his shoulders, he braced himself against the fence and pushed up against it to weasel his way into a standing position. I had a sudden idea and threw off my backpack. I pulled out a pair of wire cutters (they're Iggy's! I swear,).

It took some prying but I got half of the wire cut. Something gummed up the cutters and I had to put a foot on one of the handles and pull up to de-gumify it. I repeated the process on the other side and as soon as his hand was free he gave a good, rapid shake.

"You into rock, paper, scissors?" I asked, examining his fist clenched around the piece of metal. He gave a grunt of acknowledgment, but even that was shaky. Leaning to make his captive wing feel better, he looked like he was dead on his feet (if dead people can shudder). I hastily cut free his wing and he was away from that fence so fast it felt like he'd left a tornado.

The smell of flesh- _his _flesh was especially strong near the fence, yet I couldn't contain my curiosity. _Curiosity killed the cat_, I thought, leaning in a gently placing a finger against the now-harmless wire.

It stuck, almost felt like it bonded, to my skin. I jerked my finger back but it pulled my finger. _Geez, I'm an idiot._ I jerked again, harder, and my finger came unglued (not without taking a small bit of skin). If it stuck with a small touch, imagine with your full weight leaning against it.

Oh yeah, and frying you like a Thanksgiving Turkey.

Yeah… I get it, bad pun.

I heard something collapse in the ground behind me, and I whipped around to Fang's fallen body. He was breathing heavily, clenching and unclenching his open hand. The metal must've weighed down his wing because it flopped listlessly at his side.

"Jesus Christ!" I hissed, falling down beside him. I tried to touch his fallen form, but before I got too close his wing shot up, scaring me away.

"Don't touch me," it came out through his barred teeth. I flopped down closer and lowered my head so I could glare (try) at his closed eyes.

"Look at me," I snapped. His left eye squinted open and I tried to stop the shudder that ran through my body. My wings ruffled slightly. "I'm the leader, you can't tell me what to do." He gave a dry snort that I could only guess was supposed to be laughter (?). Who am I kidding, Fang… laugh?

"And I'm a fried meatloaf. Guess we're even."

"You comparing me to a meatloaf?" I asked, trying to remember anything I might've learned about electricity and channeling. While his barely open eye slid closed, I snaked my arm to where it hovered over his neck and then grabbed his neck.

His body arched slightly, and as the electricity traveled into my body I did the same. My heart decided it wanted to run a marathon, then took off before the gun sounded. About halfway through, it tripped and for a moment I thought it was going to stay down.

It finally started running again, but I realized that it had slowed down and decided to walk the rest. My breathing slowed and my feathers went off high alert. _And that probably wasn't half of what he felt._ I bit the inside of my cheek and listened as Fang let out a loud curse.

"I got fried from the inside out. My nerve endings are on fire and you go and clamp down on them. Thanks a lot, fearless leader."

"Yeah, sure. No big." I said, absently listening to the people running through the forest. I didn't have time to be guilt-tripped. Suddenly, the rest of the flock burst out of the forest then paused. Iggy jerked to a stop as Nudge held his arm like an iron clamp. He frowned slightly.

"What's going on." His nose crinkled. "Smells horrible. Max, were you cooking again?"

"Fang!" Angel's cry lit up the air and she ran to his broken form. I managed to get to her before she touched him. She jerked against me, then stopped and stared up at me with heartbreaking big eyes. "How can we help?" I stroked her head gently then tried to think of what to do.

"Oh geez! What happened to Fang? Did he get shot? Are there hunters?" she let out a strangled gasp and clung to the still confused Iggy. "Are there Erasers around?"

"Nudge!" Iggy placed a hand on her shoulder. "What happened?" he was calmer as he broke out of Nudge's grip and gently examined Fang's form. He jumped back at the first touch, scowled, then went with his search.

"He grabbed the fence, but it was electric and he got stuck to it."

"Fang fricassee," Iggy muttered. Finally, he came across the clenched hand, but even his light touch made Fang flinch away.

"Got a souvenir, too," I told him wryly. I suddenly remembered the huge lake not far off. "Maybe water will help!" Yes, because water helps everything. Pshaw.

Iggy frowned, "I'll help carry him, but if we touch him to the water, we're gonna have a _looot_ of fish for dinner."

"Why don't you touch him with something?" the Gasman pointed out. "If you get all the electricity out of him, won't he be like an old battery?" I glanced at Iggy's lingering hand, and opened my mouth an instant before he clamped down on Fang's wrist. Must've been harder than me, because Fang let out a quick grunt. Iggy shuddered softly before gently releasing his wrist.

"You too?" Fang asked, curling up and trying to glare sarcastically at Iggy. Of course it did no good.

"You and your nerve endings need to shut up," I snapped, placing a hand over his fist. "It's no walk in the park for us, either."

"Well then go find me Ari. I'll give him a bear hug." It wasn't nearly as bad as the first one I felt, in fact I could practically feel the electricity dying. When we finished, Fang was nearly a ball, his wings covering himself. I felt bad for the guy, but we had to get that wire out of his grasp and off his wing.

So Iggy and I figured out a way to cradle him and walk at the same time. We didn't think of comfort until we took a step and he recoiled from our touch. We readjusted and made out way swiftly through the trees.

"We went to the lake, so I know how to get there," Iggy huffed as we ran. I followed him and Nudge without a word and soon we popped out of the trees and were welcomed to the sight of the silver, probably freezing, waters of the lake. Trying to be careful we walked along the edge until we found a rock that jutted out of the water, yet was close enough to reach the gentle waves. We sat him down on the rock and I dropped his hand in the water.

Immediately he pulled it out and let out a gasp.

"What?" I asked, grasping his wrist and pressing it slower into the water.

"Cold," he snapped. His brow furrowed then his whole face relaxed. "But it feels good." I put my hand in the water after him and did the same thing he did.

Freak out.

I glanced wildly for the _morons_ who had decided it was a good idea to _swim_ in this icebox. Their psychiatrist probably pulled them back in. But, it was Washington and the middle of winter. I'm surprised there wasn't any snow.

I gently ran my hands down his arm until I met his wrist. Finding the skin still securely glued to the wire, I massaged at his fingers. He let out a snort and I glanced down at his face. A small grin appeared, then disappeared. It kind of reminded me of a face a contented husband would make.

Look at me, Max the homemaker.

Again I set to work on his fingers, but could hardly tell what I was doing. My hand had numbed almost completely, so it was hard going. Finally, his fingers came unglued and I could feel the wire. The connection with the palm was harder, but it finally came off.

Reminded me of an octopus.

The water washed over the burn and Fang let out a gasp. I gently pulled his hand out of the water to examine the burn. It was gruesome. Like chocolate-covered gore. It was _that_ bad.

A black trench cut across his palm. It looked gross.

"You'd think we'd smell like a rotisserie chicken," Iggy mused, sitting beside Fang. The Fangster had a hard grasp on his pant leg like it was a teddy bear of sorts. Or I guess an Iggy Bear. "How bad?"

"How do you like your chicken, Iggy? Blackened or incinerated?"

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_Dun dun dun! There you have it! I hope you like it and please tell me if any of my Maximum Ride characters were off. I've only read The Angel Experiment and I want to know how I can improve! Please and thank you !_


	2. Guess Who

_Hi! Thank you for all your reviews and favorites and alerts! I appreciate every single one of them! And just to clear the air, this is not a Max and Jacob story, they are just the main characters from each book. It's totally Mang or Fax (whichever)_

_Disclaimer: I do now own Twilight. I do now own Maximum Ride. They are both owned by their respected authors.

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Gazzy jumped onto the rock and nearly pushed me off in an effort to look. His eyes widened so much I thought they'd drop out of his face, "That's gross!" So much for tact. Fang jerked his hand back and looked at it.

"That adds to the old Fang charm," he muttered, gruffly extending his wing. I shoved the wire in his jacket pocket then led his wing to the water and that's when Nudge came over.

"Oh geez Fang! That looks terrible! You're going to have to start wearing gloves or something. Maybe some base, I hear Avon has people that walk around just selling make-up."

"I don't wear make-up," he said, shuddering slightly as a breeze picked up and his wing hit the water.

"Aww, come on. Just a little eyeliner and you'd have the perfect I-don't-care façade," I joked, massaging away the wire. He grunted and his wing jerked quickly, splashing water at me. "Hey! I'm trying to help here!"

"You remind me of a mother hen," Angel said, clutching Celeste to her chest and staring down at Fang. Huh, apparently we were thinking on the same wavelength. Wait… don't you say nuthin.

I continued to scrub at his wing and noticed that it felt unreasonably soft. Like a baby's down, like Angel's used to feel like.

The wire came off, yet I couldn't seem to take my hands off his wing. And it had _nothing_ to do with the glue. They were just so soft! _Wait…_

I jerked my hands off his wing and he slowly retracted it out of the water. I turned to look at Fang, afraid of what his expression would be. He just stared at me, his face smooth and calm.

"Never had a wing massage," he muttered, offering only a quick grin to assure me. Then the grin disappeared and he clenched his eyes closed.

"Nerve endings heckling you again?" I asked, watching as he struggled to stand. Ever movement seemed to send a spasm through his body. Then, an incredibly harsh spasm flew threw his body and his knees buckled. Needless to say, London Fang is falling down.

He collapsed on the rock, then he bit his lip and clenched his eyes closed. His body arched and took a deep, shuddery breath. I bent to help him, then noticed the houses perched on the side of the lake. I cursed and stooped down to pick up my half of Fang. His wings tensed sharply and I could picture the little kids in those houses.

'_Look Momma, there's a bunch of big birds over there… and they're wearing pants!'_

Oh yeah, someone was going to have a heck of a lot to talk about if we didn't get back in the trees.

"Iggy! Grab Fang, we gotta get him in the trees!" The pyro grabbed his half and ran to the trees, ignoring Fang's protesting body language. We finally made it a good way into the woods and found a small clearing before we sat down Fang.

If I thought he looked like a head case before, then wow.

The Fangster was twitching uncontrollably, even his wings jumped. Iggy frowned as he gently touched the twitchy mass on the ground.

"Is he having a seizure?" Nudge gasped, putting a hand in front of her mouth as she stared down at him. I opened my mouth to say no, but hey. For all I know he could be. What would I know about a seizure?

"He's still hurting," Angel said, her eyes pained as she crouched next to him and ran a hand softly over his hair; just as he'd done so many times before to her. "He can't think straight and when you moved him, it made everything hurt, like he was on fire."

"Does he need more water?" the Gasman asked, peering over his sister's shoulder at Fang.

"I don't quite think that's what he meant," Iggy answered.

"But how would we know? Maybe all he does need is a little water," I shrugged as I threw my suggestion in. Suddenly the wind changed, making the limbs on the cedars creak slightly and carrying with it a terrible smell. Iggy looked fit to retch and I scrunched up my nose.

"Take off," I hissed, glancing sharply at Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy. They looked at my in confusion, then all I could feel were gruff hands on my arm and my vision was filled with the growling snout of an Eraser.

"Why don't you?" it hissed sarcastically.

"Why don't you?" I snapped back, trying to avoid the rock protruding in my back. He bent closer and I banged my head up in his nose, sending him back with a howl and a hand on his snout. "Everyone always said my hard head would never come in handy!"

Quickly I glanced up to see Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy flying above us. Three Erasers were holding down Iggy, but he was putting up a ruckus. Around me, it almost seemed like anthills of Erasers were charging at the three of us.

Wait… three…

I glanced around wildly for Fang, having to roundhouse kick an Eraser in the face so I could see past his ugly form. I had to punch another just so I wouldn't scream out loud in anger.

Ari had his clawed hand grasped around the front of Fang's jacket, holding him close enough to snarl in his face. Fang finally opened his eyes, then reached in his pocket and stabbed the Eraser in the arm with the metal I'd pushed in his pocket.

That's our Fang.

Ari let out a howl of pain then threw the boy in his grasp to the ground, kicking up his leg then bringing his heel down on his stomach.

Oh God I wanted to kill Ari.

I would've too, if it weren't for the dozens of Erasers that descended on me at that moment. They grasped my arms and pinned me to the ground, I only just managed to force my face out of the ground.

"It takes twelve of you for handle one of me?" I spat at them, only getting a kick in the shin for my efforts. It was suddenly disturbingly silent in the meadow, so silent I could hear Fang's labored breathing.

Hm, I think this has happened before. But why did it have to be Fang? _Again?_

The Eraser reached down and grabbed Fang's clenched hand, examining it quickly. A smile cracked his dog snout and he threw the hand, palm-down, on the sand and ground it in with his heel.

"I see you were the bird we caught with our trap," he supplied sweetly. Fang let out a strangled yelp, and it cut down into my heart. It must've hurt badly for him to actually complain, let alone yelp. The boy then followed with a snarl and grasped the ankle on his hand. Quickly and simultaneously, he tugged and pushed. In result Ari's leg seemed to capsize at the loss of balance and he fell with a huff to the ground.

It looked like Fang meant to roll away, but he swayed on the ground then rolled back to where he was. Ari whipped his head around and snarled at the prone body beside him.

"Hey Ari!" I shouted, trying to distract him. It worked and he turned to look at me. "What do you mean trap?"

"You don't think fences just grow out of the ground, do you?" he snorted, slowly turning to face Fang with a sadistic gleam in his eyes.

I rolled my eyes, "No, I figured someone built it."

"I hope you enjoyed the glue," he snickered, standing up with wicked slowness. "I think you didn't get a good enough taste of it the first time. Made out of a mixture of sap some other crap," he said proudly. Then, faster than I could watch he whipped down and grasped Fang's shirt again.

"I liked it fine the first time I met it," Fang hissed. "In fact, you should've been there. I was so in the mood for a hug."

"Bet you were," Ari snorted and walked to the side of the meadow with Fang dragging after him. He gave a shudder and then did the only thing he could do; bite him.

Ha. Fang, biting people. Ha.

The Eraser snatched his hand away and cursed. Then he grabbed Fang's hand and clenched it so his claws were digging into the trench.

I only just managed to drown out Fang's hurt cries by humming a tuneless song in my head. "I don't think you met it well enough. Maybe you should chomp down on one of those wires!" Ari spat down at him, still clenching the hand. A light of inspiration lit up Ari's face and he glanced behind him with a smile. Blood now fell down in small rivers from Fang's hand, but the cries were gone. Instead he was crumpled up at Ari's feet, his wing's over his head and his own blood dripping down on him. I swallowed and almost wished for the cries back, not the pathetic ball of- well Fang, before me.

Bucking wildly, I began to screech like a rabid dog. "Get off of me, you frikkin' mutts! Face me like men, or are you all terrier now?" I was about ready to use some of the more colorful words I'd learned of late, before a kick hit me in the side. Another followed it, then another, then another. After the first one, though, I hardly felt them. A veil of rage had covered and dulled down everything but the death warrant on Ari's head. I continued to buck and kick madly, trying to weasel out from under the Erasers. Ari turned to glare at me.

"Can't you keep her quiet? There is a community around here and I'd rather not have cops out here," then he gave a monstrous smirk. "Let's bring her to watch." The ground disappeared and a couple Erasers hoisted me up, each keeping an iron grip on their piece of Max.

Hey, hey, hey, better not get handsy.

"I don't want to watch! Let Fang _go_ and just let me kick my foot through your teeth!" I shouted at him. He just shrugged as if to say 'you're loss', then made Fang stand up. His face was pale and it looked sweaty. He kind of looked dead-on-his-feet. Then Ari twisted his arm at a painful angle behind his back and took his nails out of the cut.

"I'd rather not, I'm having too much fun," he said with a grin. Quickly he gave a push to Fang and they marched through the undergrowth. I followed on my carpet of Eraser and I could hear another crash behind me that could only be Iggy's ride.

I knew the electricity was out, but could the different sides have different generators? I really didn't want to think about it, so I was glad to be distracted by voices up ahead that I'd never heard before. Either that was really good, or really bad.

Obviously I was aiming for really good. _For Fang's sake more than mine._

"Geez! This crap's sticky! I just brushed up against it and thing got- OW!"

"There you go." The girl's voice said to the younger boy's. They sounded almost identical.

"Would you two quit!" a new voice snapped. "We need to figure out why this stuff's here!"

"Fine, oh fearless leader," the girl said sarcastically. There was a growl that I could only imagine coming from the newer, matured, boy's.

"Do you smell that?" the younger voice said, and I could practically hear the scowl in his voice. "It smells like fried people." The trees cleared enough so I could see who was there.

There were three, dark skinned and huge people. And by huge, I mean _huge_. The older boy and girl's faces froze in their sneers for a moment before they broke and turned to stare at us. Ari, who had stopped before we exited the trees, now cursed.

The older man narrowed his eyes. "Who's there? I saw you in there." The girl quivered sporadically and the younger boy put a placating hand on her shoulder. Ari turned and with a silent nod, waves of Erasers poured out of the trees and headed for the three. The older boy's face spaced as he saw the half-dog creatures swarming at him, but who could blame him?

Then he smiled.

"They kind of look like us!" the younger one said, his face twisting in confusion. The Erasers let out a growl that vibrated through them. Like them? What were they, knock-off Erasers? Maybe they were run-aways, like us.

"Seth! I really don't think those things are natural," the girl spat, holding her ground and even going so far as to bare her teeth at them. Oh, how right she was. They were 'bout as natural as a Brooklyn hot dog. The older boy took a step out in front of her and faced down the pack.

"Who are you?"

He got a growl in response. Wow, those things aren't the friendliest of things. "We're your death!" Ari spat through his cover of the trees. All three of the teens turned to stare at him, even though I'm sure he must've been hiding.

"Whatever," the older one spat. He backed up till he had his back to the fence, and that was when I noticed the string and jogging pants tied around his ankle. The other two (who were vibrating like Fang had been after being electrocuted) followed suit, separating a good distance. Then they jumped, arching their backs.

Then they exploded.

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_Okay, I know the Twilight characters haven't been in there very much yet, but they will be! Next chappy! Thanks for sticking with me! :D_


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